High-tech, lowbrow

Raunchy talk shows find a home on Web broadcasts

October 04, 2006|By Los Angeles Times

Brooke Shields has been a talk show guest dozens of times during her three decades in Hollywood.

But not until this summer, when the actress appeared on "Tom Green Live," had she cursed like a sailor on the air, gone without full makeup and sung with Siberian huskies while waiting for the host's Internet connection to come back up.

"It's kind of cool being on the cutting edge," Shields said.

Remember Green, the comedian who simulated sex with a dead moose on his groundbreaking "The Tom Green Show" on MTV, lost a testicle to cancer and was married--briefly--to Drew Barrymore?

If he'd slipped your mind, you're not alone. High-profile work has been hard for Green to come by since 2003's "The New Tom Green Show" on MTV. So he decided to shine the spotlight on himself by creating his own call-in talk show--broadcasting on the Web, from his Hollywood Hills living room.

Monday through Thursday, just before 10 p.m. (CST), the 35-year-old puts on a jacket and tie, fires up high-powered Web cameras and coaxes entertainers of varying levels of celebrity to make conversation, perform and field viewers' calls for about an hour.

With "Tom Green Live," the comedian is breaking just about every rule in TV. In the process, he may end up rewriting a few, becoming a sort of online Mike Douglas for the YouTube generation.

"At first I thought it would be really good practice for a talk show," Green said. "Then I realized, it is a talk show."

Roughly 25,000 people a night tune in to maniatv.com or tomgreen.com to watch, according to executives at ManiaTV Network, the Internet broadcaster that backs Green.

The live broadcast is beset with technical problems. Green's tantrums directed at the show's 26-year-old producer, Robert Kurtz, have become a running gag.

And he's not making money from the site. There are no commercial breaks because the show has no advertisers. Even so, Green is trying to fashion himself the president and star of his own next-generation broadcast network.

Although most of his viewers tune in through ManiaTV, Green is enlisting friends such as red-carpet interviewer Melissa Rivers to host their own live shows, which he plans to broadcast on tomgreen.com.

For now, he's content to live off the proceeds of past projects. But Green and his representatives are looking for sponsors. The wacky guy who used to squabble with MTV Networks executives over how far he could push his comedy is now taking pains not to alienate potential advertisers.

"I'm the executive now who's worried that if the host goes too far over the edge or says something too crazy, we may never be able to get Budweiser to sign on," he said.

Tom Green's guest list

The unpredictability of an appearance on "Tom Green Live," which debuted June 15, and its small audience may explain why A-list guests have been scarce. But Green still manages to get his share of stars:

- Dr. Drew Pinsky of "Loveline" sang opera.

- Green led hip-hop group Jurassic 5 in a half-hour rap session.

- Tommy Chong ended his appearance by lighting up some pot.

- Comedians Jamie Kennedy and Patton Oswalt, gushing with envy, said they wanted TV studios in their homes.